Monday, March 11, 2013

I've been getting requests for book recommendations for boys so here are three series you can check out.

The first is an author I recently discovered - David Walliams. If your son likes Roald Dahl, he'll like this guy cos it's written in a similar style. It helps that Quentin Blake is the illustrator for both Dahl and Walliams - that guy makes a book instantly appealing!

Walliams' books include Mr Stink, Billionaire Boy, Gangsta Granny and Ratburger. Theoretically, they're not a true series - just books in the same style by the same author.

I would estimate the reading level of the books to be about 9-11 years old but they're fun for any age.

The second series is a long-time favourite of mine - the Nicholas books by Rene Goscinny. If you love the humour of the Asterix comics, you'll love Nicholas. Both are written by the same
author and follow the same guileless style of comedy. In fact, Nicholas reads almost like a comic in prose form. The stories are about a French boy, Nicholas, and the scrapes he gets into with his school friends.

The books were published in France more than 40 years ago, but they're still funny today. When I was young, I used to borrow these from the library and I feel they're keepers. Andre loves them, he still re-reads them sometimes. It took me a while to hunt down the hardcovers (these were the original versions). I think they're gradually being phased out and replaced with soft covers.

Reading level is also about 9-11 years old.

Finally, we have The Great Brain series. This is another time-tested series that I grew up with. Written by John D. Fitzgerald, it's a semi-autobiography that tells of John and his adventures growing up with his brother, Tom aka the Great Brain. Tom is a conniving genius with a great love for money and is always scheming to swindle the neighbourhood kids. Set in Utah in the 1900s, these stories tell of a simpler time but are still engaging and pretty much timeless.

I collected these over many years, hence the disparate versions. Sure that he would dislike the books, Andre started reading them reluctantly only upon my insistence. To his own surprise, he grew to love the characters and really got into the books. When he was on the last book, he actually lamented, "Why didn't the author write any more?", as if 8 in the series wasn't prolific enough.

About Me

Writing is my profession and my passion. I own and run a professional writing agency, where I do all my corporate writing. Blogging takes care of the miscellaneous excess thoughts.
I'm a mother of two completely polar opposite children. Maybe God figures the challenge would do me good. Or perhaps He just likes to have a good laugh. Whatever it is, I'm enjoying the roller coaster ride.